Programming the Perl DBI

From Mainframes to Workstations

In today’s computing climate, databases are everywhere. In previous years, they tended to be used almost exclusively in the realm of mainframe-processing environments. Nowadays, with pizza-box sized machines more powerful than room-sized machines of ten years ago, high-performance database processing is available to anyone.

In addition to cheaper and more powerful computer hardware, smaller database packages have become available, such as Microsoft Access and mSQL. These packages give all computer users the ability to use powerful database technology in their everyday lives.

The corporate workplace has also seen a dramatic decentralization in database resources, with radical downsizing operations in some companies leading to their centralized mainframe database systems being replaced with a mixture of smaller databases distributed across workstations and PCs. The result is that developers and users are often responsible for the administration and maintenance of their own databases and datasets.

This trend towards mixing and matching database technology has some important downsides. Having replaced a centralized database with a cluster of workstations and multiple database types, companies are now faced with hiring skilled administration staff or training their existing administration staff for new skills. In addition, administrators now need to learn how to glue different databases together.

It is in this climate that a new order of software engineering ...